System and method for representing media assets

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and tangible computer-readable media for representing media assets. The method includes receiving an original media asset and derivative versions of the original media asset and associated descriptors, determining a lineage to each derivative version that traces to the original media asset, generating a version history tree of the original media asset representing the lineage to each derivative version and associated descriptors from the original media asset, and presenting at least part of the version history tree to a user. In one aspect, the method further includes receiving a modification to one associated descriptor and updating associated descriptors for related derivative versions with the received modification. The original media asset and the derivative versions of the original media asset can share a common identifying mark. Descriptors can include legal documentation, licensing information, creation time, creation date, actors&#39; names, director, producer, lens aperture, and position data.

PRIORITY INFORMATION

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/907,554, filed Jun. 22, 2020, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/402,534, filed Jan. 10, 2017, nowU.S. Pat. No. 10,691,660, issued Jun. 23, 2020, which is a continuationof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/688,338, filed Nov. 29, 2012, nowU.S. Pat. No. 9,547,684, issued Jan. 17, 2017, which is a continuationof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/342,864, filed Dec. 23, 2008, nowU.S. Pat. No. 8,359,340, issued Jan. 22, 2013. All sections of theaforementioned application(s) and/or patent(s) are incorporated hereinby reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to representing media and morespecifically to storing a tree of related media assets.

2. Introduction

With recent advances in technology, many individuals now possess thenecessary tools for creating, editing, and sharing media. Indeed sitessuch as YouTube.com are based on the concept of users uploading homemade videos as well as editing and/or commenting on others' videos.Further, digital media distribution on DVDs and online have allowed formany users to copy and paste sections from others' media, includingcommercial media, in their own creations. Users also create parodies ofexisting media which often trigger others to view the parodied media.Due to these and other factors, media is increasingly cross-pollinated.Users create tens of thousands of directly and indirectly derivativeworks every day. On top of these derivative works, professional studiosoften revise their work to make different versions or editions, such asa standard full-screen DVD, a widescreen extended edition DVD, awidescreen extended edition with director commentary HD-DVD, etc. Thesedifferent media versions and derivative versions are currently verydisconnected and not uniformly represented, especially when consideringdescriptors such as user comments, subtitles, alternate audio tracks,formats, metadata, etc. Accordingly, what is needed in the art is animproved way to represent and store related media assets andsupplementary descriptive information.

SUMMARY

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth inthe description which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Thefeatures and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained bymeans of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out inthe appended claims. These and other features of the present inventionwill become more fully apparent from the following description andappended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention asset forth herein.

Disclosed are systems, computer-implemented methods, and tangiblecomputer-readable media for representing media assets. The methodincludes receiving an original media asset and derivative versions ofthe original media asset and associated descriptors, determining alineage to each derivative version that traces to the original mediaasset, generating a version history tree of the original media assetrepresenting the lineage to each derivative version and associateddescriptors from the original media asset, and presenting at least partof the version history tree to a user. In one aspect, the method furtherincludes receiving a modification to one associated descriptor andupdating associated descriptors for related derivative versions with thereceived modification. The original media asset and the derivativeversions of the original media asset can share a common identifyingmark. Descriptors can include legal documentation, licensinginformation, creation time, creation date, actors' names, director,producer, lens aperture, and position data. Derivative versions caninclude the same asset stored in different media formats. Descriptorscan include weights.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and otheradvantages and features of the invention can be obtained, a moreparticular description of the invention briefly described above will berendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which areillustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawingsdepict only exemplary embodiments of the invention and are not thereforeto be considered to be limiting of its scope, the invention will bedescribed and explained with additional specificity and detail throughthe use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example method embodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates a media version history tree;

FIG. 4 illustrates another media version history tree;

FIG. 5 illustrates metadata and derivative works in a media versionhistory tree; and

FIG. 6 illustrates a workflow for organized production of a mediaversion history.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the invention are discussed in detail below.While specific implementations are discussed, it should be understoodthat this is done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled inthe relevant art will recognize that other components and configurationsmay be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system includes a general-purposecomputing device 100, including a processing unit (CPU) 120 and a systembus 110 that couples various system components including the systemmemory such as read only memory (ROM) 140 and random access memory (RAM)150 to the processing unit 120. Other system memory 130 may be availablefor use as well. It can be appreciated that the invention may operate ona computing device with more than one CPU 120 or on a group or clusterof computing devices networked together to provide greater processingcapability. A processing unit 120 can include a general purpose CPUcontrolled by software as well as a special-purpose processor. An IntelXeon LV L7345 processor is an example of a general purpose CPU which iscontrolled by software. Particular functionality may also be built intothe design of a separate computer chip. An STMicroelectronics STA013processor is an example of a special-purpose processor which decodes MP3audio files. Of course, a processing unit includes any general purposeCPU and a module configured to control the CPU as well as aspecial-purpose processor where software is effectively incorporatedinto the actual processor design. A processing unit may essentially be acompletely self-contained computing system, containing multiple cores orCPUs, a bus, memory controller, cache, etc. A multi-core processing unitmay be symmetric or asymmetric.

The system bus 110 may be any of several types of bus structuresincluding a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. A basicinput/output (BIOS) stored in ROM 140 or the like, may provide the basicroutine that helps to transfer information between elements within thecomputing device 100, such as during start-up. The computing device 100further includes storage devices such as a hard disk drive 160, amagnetic disk drive, an optical disk drive, tape drive or the like. Thestorage device 160 is connected to the system bus 110 by a driveinterface. The drives and the associated computer readable media providenonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules and other data for the computing device 100. In oneaspect, a hardware module that performs a particular function includesthe software component stored in a tangible computer-readable medium inconnection with the necessary hardware components, such as the CPU, bus,display, and so forth, to carry out the function. The basic componentsare known to those of skill in the art and appropriate variations arecontemplated depending on the type of device, such as whether the deviceis a small, handheld computing device, a desktop computer, or a computerserver.

Although the exemplary environment described herein employs the harddisk, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that othertypes of computer readable media which can store data that areaccessible by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memorycards, digital versatile disks, cartridges, random access memories(RAMs), read only memory (ROM), a cable or wireless signal containing abit stream and the like, may also be used in the exemplary operatingenvironment.

To enable user interaction with the computing device 100, an inputdevice 190 represents any number of input mechanisms, such as amicrophone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphicalinput, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so forth. The input maybe used by the presenter to indicate the beginning of a speech searchquery. The device output 170 can also be one or more of a number ofoutput mechanisms known to those of skill in the art. In some instances,multimodal systems enable a user to provide multiple types of input tocommunicate with the computing device 100. The communications interface180 generally governs and manages the user input and system output.There is no restriction on the invention operating on any particularhardware arrangement and therefore the basic features here may easily besubstituted for improved hardware or firmware arrangements as they aredeveloped.

For clarity of explanation, the illustrative system embodiment ispresented as comprising individual functional blocks (includingfunctional blocks labeled as a “processor”). The functions these blocksrepresent may be provided through the use of either shared or dedicatedhardware, including, but not limited to, hardware capable of executingsoftware and hardware, such as a processor, that is purpose-built tooperate as an equivalent to software executing on a general purposeprocessor. For example the functions of one or more processors presentedin FIG. 1 may be provided by a single shared processor or multipleprocessors. (Use of the term “processor” should not be construed torefer exclusively to hardware capable of executing software.)Illustrative embodiments may comprise microprocessor and/or digitalsignal processor (DSP) hardware, read-only memory (ROM) for storingsoftware performing the operations discussed below, and random accessmemory (RAM) for storing results. Very large scale integration (VLSI)hardware embodiments, as well as custom VLSI circuitry in combinationwith a general purpose DSP circuit, may also be provided.

The logical operations of the various embodiments are implemented as:(1) a sequence of computer implemented steps, operations, or proceduresrunning on a programmable circuit within a general use computer, (2) asequence of computer implemented steps, operations, or proceduresrunning on a specific-use programmable circuit; and/or (3)interconnected machine modules or program engines within theprogrammable circuits.

Having disclosed various system components, the disclosure turns to theexample method embodiment for representing media assets, as illustratedin FIG. 2. For clarity, the method is discussed in terms of a systemconfigured to practice the method. The system receives an original mediaasset and derivative versions of the original media asset, eachincluding associated descriptors (202). The original media asset andderivative versions of the original media asset can be in any mediaform, video, audio, text, combined audiovisual, smell, and so forth.Derivative versions can contain the same basic information as theoriginal media asset but stored in a different media format. Forinstance, the original version of a high definition video can be inMatroska MKV file format while a derivative version containing the samevideo but in a lower resolution can be in Flash Video FLV file format.However, derivative versions can also be entirely different from theoriginal media asset, sharing only minimal commonalities. Descriptors,also known as metadata or user annotations, can include one or more oflegal documentation, licensing information, creation time, creationdate, continuation scripts, actors' names, director name, lens aperture,and position data. In one aspect, the system further receives userannotations, or metadata, or descriptors for the original media asset orthe derivative versions of the original media asset and propagates thereceived user annotations as descriptors to the original media asset andrelated derivative versions of the original media asset. To facilitatethis process, each descriptor can include a flag indicating whether ornot the descriptor propagates upward to the original media asset. Forinstance, metadata or descriptors specific to a derivative version arenot always applicable to parent versions of the media asset or theoriginal version. Metadata can apply partway up the chain to theoriginal, or source, media asset. The system can propagate descriptorsor metadata downwards to child derivative versions.

The system determines a lineage to each derivative version that tracesto the original media asset (204). The system can determine a lineagebased in whole or in part on user input, media comparisons, creationdate and time, duration, quality, media format, metadata/descriptors,and other data. In some cases, where the original media asset and thederivative versions of the original media asset share a commonidentifying mark, such as a watermark or digital fingerprint, the systemcan identify lineage based on the watermark. The system can encode allor part of the version lineage for a given media asset within thewatermark. The system can use special marks which are resistant todetection, manual modification, or modification due to transcoding orother automated processes.

The system generates a version history tree of the original media assetrepresenting the lineage to each derivative version and associateddescriptors from the original media asset (206). The system can generatea version history tree using pointers to derivative versions. The systemcan store derivative versions of the original media asset as sets ofinstructions which can reconstruct the derivative versions from theoriginal media asset. The system can assign a propinquity score, weight,or distance to each derivative version based on distance from theoriginal media asset. In this way, metadata or descriptors for a veryremotely related media asset are given little weight absent some otherreason to assign a higher weight. Weights can also be based on whenrespective descriptor was created, who created the respectivedescriptor, by what authority the respective descriptor was created, andother factors.

The system presents at least part of the version history tree to a user(208). The system can present the entire tree to the user in a graphicallayout showing the various connections and thumbnails of each mediaasset. The system can show as few as one or two media assets, directlyor indirectly connected, with some indication of how they are connected.In one aspect, the system receives an input from the user selecting anitem in the version history tree and subsequently plays the selecteditem for the user.

In one aspect, the system receives a new derivative version and newdescriptors associated with the new derivative version. The system canthen insert the new derivative version and new descriptors into theversion history tree. The system can propagate fresh descriptors upwardsand downwards, as necessary. In a related aspect, the system receives anew derivative version of the original media asset without descriptors.In this case, the system can inherit new descriptors for the newderivative version from existing descriptors and inserting the newderivative version and the new descriptors into the version historytree. Similarly, the system can receive a modification to one associateddescriptor and update associated descriptors for related derivativeversions with the received modification.

In some cases, a media asset inherits or is derived from multiplesources. One example of this is a YouTube mash-up video combining audiofrom a heavy metal song with a Japanese anime cartoon. The mash-up isproperly a derivative media asset from both the heavy metal song and theJapanese cartoon. The system can insert the mash-up in two separatetrees, or the system can link one version history tree with a secondversion history tree for a related media asset. In this way, the systemcan maintain only one instance of the mash-up, thereby eliminatingoverhead of keeping both versions of the mash-up consistent. The systemcan store an ecosystem of version history trees with varying levels ofoverlapping media assets. In this case, flag indicating whether or notdescriptors propagate upward or downward can become very useful toprevent descriptors from polluting unrelated media assets. In fact, thesystem can allow users to manually delete one descriptor and allavailable propagated versions of the descriptor.

FIG. 3 illustrates a media version history tree. Although FIG. 3 doesnot illustrate metadata or descriptors, each media asset in the versionhistory tree can contain such descriptors, whether new or inherited froma parent. The original media asset in this example is the original StarTrek television series 302. The other depicted media assets containlittle, if any, footage from the original television series, but theyare continuations of the same universe, characters, and themes, thusthey share at least some common descriptors and a common heritage. Thesystem can propagate metadata annotations backward and/or forward toparent and/or child media assets, keeping metadata for specific versionsselectively if necessary. The original television series spawned aseries of Star Trek movie sequels 304 and associated movie stills 306.Media assets can include movies, television, audio, photographs, books,CDs, DVDs, and anything else that can be represented digitally. Theseseries contained the original cast of the television series, so theyshare that metadata. An animated series 308 with most of the originalcast also followed the original television series. Much later, theproducers of the original television show produced another televisionseries, Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) 310. Novels 312 based onTNG 310 were released and can be considered derivative media assets. Atthe conclusion of the television series, a movie, Star Trek: Generationswas created starring actors from both the original and the newtelevision series. The media version history tree shows arrowsindicating inheritance from TNG 310 as well as Star Trek VI. The nextTNG movie, Star Trek: First Contact 314 contains a scene used later inthe opening credits for Star Trek: Enterprise 316, as indicated by anarrow. A user copies a portion of the final Star Trek movie to date,Star Trek: Nemesis, and posts the copied portion on YouTube with audiocommentary 318. The YouTube clip 318 may share a significant portion ofthe metadata from Nemesis, but is unlikely to share very much metadatawith Star Trek I 304 or Star Trek: Enterprise 316. Other derivativeworks branch off from various spots in the version history tree. Each istied together by a common source, Star Trek the original televisionseries 302. In some cases even a parody such as Galaxy Quest 320, whichcontains no explicit reference to the original Star Trek televisionseries 302, contains sufficient references to be included in a mediaversion history tree.

In some cases, the system can collect descriptors or metadata fromexternal sources, such as Nielsen Ratings or movie rental charts. Thesystem can provide some kind of linkage to an analytic process modulewhich filters metadata to data mine probable key elements. The systemcan relate media assets based on probable key elements. The system cantag media assets with descriptors down to a frame level. For instance,the system can tag individual frames to indicate when product placementoccurs, or to indicate a spoken reference to a later or prior mediaasset.

FIG. 4 illustrates another media version history tree 400 of theoriginal Star Trek television series 302 as shown in FIG. 3. Each mediaasset in FIG. 3 can be made up of several sub-assets, such as segments,episodes, or seasons of a television series. In this example, the firstepisode 402 of season 1 has arrows to two other episodes, indicatingthat the two other episodes trace their lineage through actors, plot,events, or some other feature to the first episode 402. The finalepisode 404 of season 3 traces its lineage from multiple previousepisodes. In some cases, specific episodes spawn media assets outsidethe television series, such as a full-length motion picture 406.Traditionally each episode of a series continues with the changes andplot line of the previous episode, as indicated by the arrows from eachepisode to each succeeding episode. While the previous examplesillustrate corporate controlled media examples, the system can acceptindividually produced media, such as home videos or video blogs.

FIG. 5 illustrates metadata and derivative works in a media versionhistory tree. An original version of the media asset 502 has associatedmetadata 504 describing various aspects of the original version 502. Amodified, derivative version 506 of the media asset can insertadditional video objects, change existing video objects, insertadditional sounds, remove sounds, speed up playback, slow down playback,insert the original version into another video altogether, etc. In thiscase, the modified, derivative version 506 inserts a palm tree in thebackground of the original version 502. The metadata 508 describing thederivative version 506 can include additional information describing thedifferences between the original and the derivative versions. Themetadata 508 can include a list of all parent or source media assetswhich have been included in the derivative. For example, a video mash-upcan include parts of multiple sources. Each source can be included. Alineage pointer to the constituent sources can be part of that metadata.One situation where this approach can be useful is a video sharing sitesuch as YouTube. On YouTube, users freely modify others' videos forpurposes of critique, parody, sarcasm, analysis, comparison, discussion,etc. These versions and their accumulated layers of comments are a formof media content. The system stores these media assets in a treestructure tracing back to the original media source or sources.

Even transcoded versions 510 of the original version 502 arederivatives. A transcoded version 510 can include its own metadata 512describing the original version as well as any transcoding information,such as resolution, frames per second, subtitles, and media containerformat. Some versions of the media asset can include no portions fromthe original version, such as a movie sequel or a parody. A movie sequelcan trace back to multiple previous media assets which are referenced inthe sequel or which led to events in the sequel. A parody of the mediaasset can trace its lineage to one or more parodied original mediaassets. A classic example of this is The Simpsons. One episode of TheSimpsons can parody several movies, commercials, other television shows,and even prior episodes of The Simpsons. Such an episode can tracemultiple lines back to multiple original versions. A parody 514 cancontain its own metadata 516. While changes to metadata from atranscoded version of a media asset may propagate back to the originalversion, metadata from a parody may not. An example of metadata relevantto a parody which is not relevant to the original version is Weird AlYankovic's song “White and Nerdy” which parodies Chamillionaire's song“Ridin' Dirty.” “White and Nerdy” can include descriptors of a Segwayand the Star Wars Christmas Special, where those descriptors meannothing to the original “Ridin' Dirty.” A parody of a parody, such asstop-motion reenactments of “White and Nerdy” with Lego Minifigcharacters, can inherit some or all of the descriptors of the parodiedmedia asset and/or the original media asset. Even if no metadata isshared between the original media asset and a given derivative mediaasset, the tree still forms a chain of derivative works tracing back tothe source(s).

The system can embed descriptors or metadata in the media asset itselfor store it as a separate file. Consumption or viewing patterns ofvideos are properly considered metadata, especially in an online orstreaming playback environment because these patterns can indicatepopularity. Consumption or viewing patterns tracked and displayed overtime can also be metadata. The system can merge trees if a singlederivative media asset incorporates parts of multiple original mediaassets. In a related aspect, the system can display a history of changesfor each version over time serially or simultaneously.

The system can allow users to search for media assets quickly. The usermay find a derivative or parent version of a desired media asset whichcan quickly lead the user to the desired media asset. In order to storethese media assets efficiently, the system can store just thedifferences necessary to recreate derivative works, for example. In oneaspect, the system stores original and derivative media assets in amanner similar to software development version control packages such asSubversion or CVS. The system can implement a set of very simple rulesdistributed among many devices and locations to stigmergically constructa media lineage tree with descriptors.

FIG. 6 illustrates a workflow for organized production of a mediaversion history. A professional movie studio can follow this exemplaryworkflow. The original media asset is the initial production of the rawfootage and the initial descriptors or metadata. In a film setting, thehours and hours of film and the hundreds of takes are the original mediaasset. Initial descriptors include information such as time and date,included actors, director, type of camera used, camera effects included,and GPS location. An automatic system can generate metadata, such asthat found in a modern digital camera, and/or a person can manuallyenter metadata. With the exception of live media, such as plays orconcerts, the original film takes are not what ends up in the finalproduct. An editor, producer, director, or similar person edits thefootage and the descriptors to create edited footage. The editor cancreate various versions of this edited footage, such as a director'sedition, extended edition, or a “special features” edit. These variousversions are not shown in FIG. 6, but can be represented by additionalbranches from the production of raw footage and initial descriptors. Thesystem tracks the edited footage and descriptors as being a “child” fromthe original media. Versions of the edited footage, such as a trailer,online video stream, DVD, and HD-DVD, trace their lineage back to theoriginal raw footage. As each version is modified, the system can add orremove descriptors as appropriate. Descriptors can include whether ornot the media is protected by copyright, who owns the copyrightinterest, how much a customary or typical royalty is for this piece ofmedia, when it was created, etc. Other users can create, modify, orconsume any of the media assets. The system creates a fork in the treefor each derivative work. The descriptors, or metadata, for eachderivative can include a weight. The weight can indicate how far removedthe original descriptor is from the derivative. For example, the initialdescriptors in the raw footage may have little to do with the trailerfor the movie, so they would have a low weight, whereas the specialfeatures segment of an HD-DVD may contain unaltered portions of the rawfootage, so the initial descriptors for those portions can include ahigh weight.

The weight of each descriptor can be based on factors such as the numberof intervening edits or how much time has elapsed between the originaland the derivative media. In the case of user comments, comment weightscan be based on when the comments were made, who made the comments, theauthority of the person making the comments, user rankings of thecomments, other comments, etc. Descriptor weights can be based onconfidence in the media, ties to the original media asset, popularity ofthe version, commenter rankings, and/or other rule-based criteria.Ranking or weight can be based on all or some of these factors. In fact,the distance or number of steps between two media assets can be adescriptor.

The system can watermark or otherwise add a “fingerprint” to uniquelyidentify the original media asset and to assist in tracking versionsderived from the original. Even in the absence of such a watermark, amedia comparator can examine media to determine which media assets aresimilar, related, or contain portions of another media asset. A videowebsite such as YouTube can apply a media comparator to existing ornewly added videos to determine a possible lineage or sources of thevideo content.

Embodiments within the scope of the present invention may also includecomputer-readable media for carrying or having computer-executableinstructions or data structures stored thereon. Such computer-readablemedia can be any available media that can be accessed by a generalpurpose or special purpose computer, including the functional design ofany special purpose processor as discussed above. By way of example, andnot limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM,EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used tocarry or store desired program code means in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions, data structures, or processor chipdesign. When information is transferred or provided over a network oranother communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, orcombination thereof) to a computer, the computer properly views theconnection as a computer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection isproperly termed a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of the computer-readable media.

Computer-executable instructions include, for example, instructions anddata which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer,or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function orgroup of functions. Computer-executable instructions also includeprogram modules that are executed by computers in stand-aloneenvironments or in a network. Generally, program modules includeroutines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and thefunctions inherent in the design of special-purpose processors, etc.that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Computer-executable instructions, associated data structures, andprogram modules represent examples of the program code means forexecuting steps of the methods disclosed herein. The particular sequenceof such executable instructions or associated data structures representsexamples of corresponding acts for implementing the functions describedin such steps.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that other embodiments of theinvention may be practiced in network computing environments with manytypes of computer system configurations, including personal computers,hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based orprogrammable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframecomputers, and the like. Embodiments may also be practiced indistributed computing environments where tasks are performed by localand remote processing devices that are linked (either by hardwiredlinks, wireless links, or by a combination thereof) through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, programmodules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

The various embodiments described above are provided by way ofillustration only and should not be construed to limit the invention.For example, the principles herein may be applied to online videosharing websites, such as YouTube, or to media conglomerates whichproduce many versions of a particular media asset. Those skilled in theart will readily recognize various modifications and changes that may bemade to the present invention without following the example embodimentsand applications illustrated and described herein, and without departingfrom the true spirit and scope of the present invention.

We claim:
 1. A method comprising: determining, by a processing systemincluding a processor, a lineage of a derivative work of an originalmedia asset; identifying, by the processing system, a plurality ofdescriptors associated with the lineage of the derivative work; andgenerating, by the processing system, a first media lineage tree of theoriginal media asset representing the lineage, wherein a descriptor ofthe plurality of descriptors includes a flag indicating the descriptorpropagates upward, towards the original media asset, the first medialineage tree indicating an upward propagation of the descriptoraccording to the flag, the derivative work derivable from the originalmedia asset according to the plurality of descriptors.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: linking, by the processing system, thefirst media lineage tree with a second media lineage tree for a relatedmedia asset to the original media asset.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the first media lineage tree further comprises at least one nodein a first media type and a second node in a second media type, andwherein the first media lineage tree comprises a pointer to anotherderivative work.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the original mediaasset is of the first media type and the derivative work of the originalmedia asset is of the second media type.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the determining of the lineage is further based on thedescriptors associated with the derivative work of the original mediaasset.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein generating the first medialineage tree is performed using the descriptors, at least some of thedescriptors including a weight value indicating a distance from theoriginal media asset.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality ofdescriptors comprises one or more of a legal document, a license, acreation time, a creation date, an actor name, a director name, aproducer name, a lens aperture, and position data.
 8. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the plurality of descriptors further comprises weights,wherein each weight in the weights is associated with a descriptor inthe plurality of descriptors, and wherein each weight is based on whenthe descriptor was created.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: identifying, by the processing system, a new derivative workof the original media asset and a new plurality of descriptorsassociated with the new derivative work of the original media asset; andinserting, by the processing system, the new derivative work of theoriginal media asset and the new plurality of descriptors into the firstmedia lineage tree.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the originalmedia asset and all derivative works of the original media asset share acommon digital fingerprint.
 11. A system comprising: a processing systemincluding a processor; and a memory that stores executable instructionsthat, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance ofoperations, the operations comprising: determining a lineage for aderivative work of an original media asset; identifying, by theprocessing system, a plurality of descriptors associated with thelineage of the derivative work; and generating a first media lineagetree of the original media asset representing the lineage, wherein adescriptor of the plurality of descriptors includes a flag indicating apropagation direction of the descriptor with respect to the originalmedia asset, the first media lineage tree indicating an upwardpropagation of the descriptor according to the flag, the derivative workderivable from the original media asset according to the plurality ofdescriptors.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations furthercomprise: linking the first media lineage tree with a second medialineage tree for a related media asset to the original media asset. 13.The system of claim 11, wherein the first media lineage tree comprisesat least one node in a first media type and a second node in a secondmedia type.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the original media assetis of the first media type and the derivative work of the original mediaasset is of the second media type.
 15. The system of claim 11, whereinthe determining of the lineage is further based on the plurality ofdescriptors associated with the derivative work of the original mediaasset.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein generating the first medialineage tree is performed using the plurality of descriptors, andwherein the propagation direction of the descriptor is upward, towardsthe original media asset.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein theplurality of descriptors comprises one or more of a legal document, alicense, a creation time, a creation date, an actor name, a directorname, a producer name, a lens aperture, and position data.
 18. Thesystem of claim 17, wherein the plurality of descriptors furthercomprises weights, wherein each weight in the weights is associated witha descriptor in the descriptors, and wherein each weight is based onwhen the descriptor was created.
 19. The system of claim 11, wherein theoperations further comprise: receiving a new derivative work of theoriginal media asset and a new plurality of descriptors associated withthe new derivative work of the original media asset; and inserting thenew derivative work of the original media asset and the new plurality ofdescriptors into the first media lineage tree.
 20. A non-transitory,machine-readable storage medium having instructions that, when executedby a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance ofoperations, the operations comprising: determining a lineage for aderivative work of an original media asset; identifying, by theprocessing system, a plurality of descriptors associated with thelineage of the derivative work; and generating a media lineage tree ofthe original media asset representing the lineage, wherein a descriptorof the plurality of descriptors includes a flag indicating a directionof propagation of the descriptor within the media lineage tree.